Filipinos Ok Constitution, Giving Big Boost To Aquino

February 3, 1987|Chicago Tribune

MANILA -- President Corazon Aquino rekindled the spirit of ``People Power`` and gave her struggling government a much-needed boost Monday by leading the way to an overwhelming victory in a critical constitutional election.

Early unofficial returns showed the proposed U.S.-style constitution winning approval by a margin of more than 3 to 1 with a near-record voter turnout.

The Philippine government`s Commission on Elections said it would be next Monday before it could provide complete, official returns because of communications and transportation problems across the island nation.

But at least two unofficial vote counts showed unmistakably that the constitution would be approved overwhelmingly.

The state-run Philippine News Agency and the respected National Citizens` Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) were compiling independent ``quick counts`` based on reports from most of the country`s 86,000 polling places.

Eleven hours after the polls closed, NAMFREL showed 4,487,870 voters nationwide approving the new constitution and only 1,448,496 rejecting it. That was a staggering 75.6 percent in favor of the charter.

PNA reported a similar landslide, with the constitution winning 76.9 percent of the vote, on 1,283,501 votes in favor to 384,231 against.

``There is a tremendous wave of enthusiasm in this plebiscite,`` said former Sen. Jovito Salonga, a longtime friend of Aquino and chairman of her Presidential Commission on Good Government. ``I have never seen anything like this before. I think this will give a great measure of legitimacy to the current administration.``

Western diplomats agreed, noting that Aquino put her personal prestige on the line by campaigning heavily for the new constitution.

Presidential advisers had predicted the constitution would win 71 percent of the vote. Privately they had expressed fears that anything less than a 60 percent approval would cast doubts on Aquino`s leadership.

``No question about it, this is a big boost for her,`` said a senior political analyst for one Western embassy in Manila.